Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to get a sneak peek and a sit-down on the new Multistrada 1200 that I keep posting reviews of. I have to say that photos of the bike don’t do it real justice. It is way more compact than you would think that it would be for a bike trying to do the touring it is supposed to be capable of.
The first thing that I noticed, it was definitely a Ducati. The beak that had me hating on the design has now officially grown on me. It helps give the front end a more sporty look and of course functions well as a scoop to keep the big superbike motor radiators fed with cool air. The compactness of the bike front to back was a real surprise. Although the model we looked at was the S-Sport model without luggage, it was easy to see what the width would be and it is not a fat bike. You could potentially still lane split with it even with all the luggage installed.
When I sat on the bike I was even more impressed. It was comfortable as hell. Ergos were neutral and wider bars should make it easy to move the bike around at lower speeds. One of the thing that they touted was the increased steering range. My Monster is awful for u-turns and slow speed stuff, the new Multi should be a completely different beast.
Needless to say, I am seriously considering this as a bike for my stable sometime next year when they have shaken out any issues with the new model and they start coming into the used market.